Fine Print Farms

The end of a decade.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/285-Obst-Rd_Bulverde_TX_78163_M80700-95274

In 2016, my wife and I bought a run down 98+ acres property, just outside of northern San Antonio.

We opened what was to become one of the largest equestrian operations in the South Texas area. With upwards of 40 horses on property, we've see birthday parties, leadership offsites, two pictures shot, a wedding and wedding photos, and thousands of riders over the years.

However, all stories come to an end. Our next installment will have us move to a smaller property and build.

If you or someone you know is looking for an equestrian property or some commercial land, just north of San Antonio in one of the biggest growth corridors of the area, here's the listing.

Act fast, since there's already several people and entities interested.

285 Obst Rd, Bulverde, TX 78163 [Updated 8/24] Farm For Sale: View 61 photos for 285 Obst Rd, this 98.29 acre lot in Bulverde, TX listed at $4,400,000. MLS #2008436

𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐞𝐬 & 𝐇𝐲𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞

When horses sweat, they don't just lose water! They also lose essential electrolytes like sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. These minerals play a critical role in muscle function, nerve signaling, hydration, and overall performance.

Electrolytes help regulate the movement of fluids within the body and are essential for maintaining normal cellular function. During periods of increased sweating, electrolyte losses can contribute to dehydration, muscle fatigue, and decreased performance if not properly replaced. Providing appropriate electrolyte support, along with access to fresh water, helps maintain hydration and supports the body’s natural recovery processes.

Whether your horse is competing, traveling, exercising, or simply managing the demands of changing seasons, proper hydration is an important part of overall health. If you have questions about your horse’s electrolyte needs or supplementation plan, our team is here to help!

www.sehtx.com | 📱 254-968-7898

a section from my book "Stumbling With Grace," which I will have for sale if you're coming to the clinic next Thursday with Steve Peters and I!

What is the true nature of a horse?

I find myself often attempting to explain how a horse feels, uncorrupted by human attitudes and hands. It’s a feel most people can’t relate to , those first electric touches, the wind blowing your scarf around the back of your neck, the young horse like a baby deer, reaching out to make contact with your hand, before he zips away.

It’s like most people have never spent time in unspoiled nature, free of traffic noise, lights, trash left behind, trail markers. Who has felt unspoiled nature in all it’s terrible glory, and felt themselves give way to how small and inconsequential the human is? Who has felt complete surrender to a greater power, manifested in rocks and trees and dirt in the crevices of your face, and known, accepted happily, that you are nothing, and this is everything?

When a baby is born, we already have a name picked out, and clothes that say “daddy’s little slugger” or “daddy’s princess.” We have ideas of who they’ll be and how they’ll fit into the family and the world. How many a parent has sat in silent awe of the brilliance that is a brand new baby, completely shaken by the meaning of holding such raw power in their hands? Who is this little person, sent through your body? They are yours but they are their own completley.

Every day after that first day of birth, parents go to work molding their child, and labeling personality and behavior. But who is that child?
What is nature?

What is a horse?

Describing what a horse is to most people can feel like explaining why Central Park isn’t nature. You might enjoy being in it because it’s more nature than the high rise jungle that surrounds it. But it is still tarnished by human light, sound, their footprint is everywhere until it is twisted far away from its original form. You see a tree and can call it a tree, but it is no longer a tree, it is a slave to a human.

But what is a horse? Most folks have never met a horse. They’ve touched many, maybe even thousands, but they make quick work of weaving a safe blanket of description, strapping it on in the safety of a stall, behind fences and arenas and confined in tight spaces, in the safety of routine, so they don’t have to see a horse-

The true nature of the horse is like a desert canyon, windy, dry and brambled, and if you step back and really look, it takes the breath right out of your lungs with its power. You can’t name it, you can’t even hardly describe it. The act of simply giving it a name cheapens it. You can’t control it, you can learn it’s ways, learn to survive in the canyon by succumbing completely to its power, and then, in small mysterious ways, you shape it, like it shapes you.

A horse rarely reacts only to the thing happening in that exact moment.

It may look as though he exploded because a plastic bag moved, another horse came too close, or you asked him to stand still. But his nervous system may already have been carrying the trailer journey, unfamiliar surroundings, separation from his herd, uncomfortable tack, excess energy, pain, a tense rider and six smaller moments of worry that nobody noticed.

This is called trigger stacking.

Each individual stressor may have been manageable on its own. But stress accumulates. Eventually the horse reaches the limit of what his nervous system can contain, and the next seemingly insignificant thing tips him over the edge.

That final trigger gets blamed because it is the one we can see. We say, “He lost his mind over nothing,” without recognising that it was never only about that one thing. The bucket was already full. The plastic bag was simply the last drop.

This is why context matters so much when looking at behaviour. We need to consider what happened earlier that day, how the horse has been managed, whether he is in pain, how much sleep and movement he has had, what has changed in his environment and how much pressure he has already been coping with.

The reaction may seem far bigger than the moment warrants, but it may be exactly as big as the accumulation warrants.

Looking beneath the behaviour does not mean ignoring dangerous reactions or having no boundaries. It means responding to the whole horse instead of punishing him for the final visible moment of a struggle we did not see building.

Sometimes the horse is not overreacting to what just happened.

Sometimes he is finally reacting to everything that happened before it.

BIMEDA Announces U.S. Availability of GASTROBIM - Barrel Horse News Bimeda®, a global leader in animal health solutions, announced the U.S. launch of GASTROBIM™(omeprazole), the first and only FDA-approved bioequivalent to GastroGard® (omeprazole) for the treatment and prevention of recurrence of gastric ulcers in horses and foals four weeks of age and older.

End of Summer Sale!

Starting August 3rd – August 15th we are offering limited‑time discounts on select equine products exclusively for BVEH-San Antonio clients who have been seen within the past year. Haven’t been seen? Call us to make your next appointment!

Stop by during business hours to stock up on the essentials! It is first come, first serve. We will not set aside product, all supplies must be picked up in hospital! Available only for our clients who have been seen by a BVEH - San Antonio veterinarian in the last year.